There’s lots of things in the budget, agreed upon by the White House and Congress, that I would change if I had my druthers, but the only part that I find patently objectionable is the ban on the District of Columbia’s ability to fund abortions with municipal money.  My views on abortion have nothing to do with why I think this is so wrong.  The residents of the District should be allowed to set public policy without gross interference from the federal government.

When the Constitution was written, Congress was given so much power over the District because it made sense to have the capital be independent from any of the states.  If the capital of the United States was in a state, say Maryland, then Maryland would be able to leverage a lot more power over Congress than every other state.  Maryland would potentially have the power to close the streets around the Capitol Building, making the lives of legislators very difficult, unless Congress agreed to pass a bill that would be favorable to the state of Maryland.

Congress’ authority over the District made sense at the founding of the country, when there were no permanent residents of the District.  When Congress wasn’t in session, most of the people working in the capital moved back to their home states.  Today, there are over 600,000 people who live in the District permanently.  They should have the ability to govern themselves locally like every other municipality in the United States, without having to answer to the authority of Congress.

James Fallows provides a skeptic’s perspective to the military engagement in Libya.  I agree with him that it would’ve been useful to have had a more thorough public debate.  But I disagree with him (and Dennis Kucinich) that it’s wrong that President Obama acted without explicit Congressional approval.  Per the War Powers Resolution, the President can commit troops for up to 60 days before he legally needs an Authorization of the Use of Military Force from Congress.

Also, in modern times Congress’ constitutional power to declare war is mostly a superficial power considering most of our military engagements are fought against non-state actors.  Congress’ real power stems from their ability to refuse to fund certain military actions.  They could do that today if they wanted to.  Congress’ non-action signals an implicit approval of the President’s actions.